We’ve already looked at accessories to help stabilize video shot on your mobile device and improve the quality of captured audio. Now it’s time to focus (no pun intended) on how you can upgrade and adapt your device’s camera lens to create even better education video resources.

The iPhone 4, 4S and 5’s cameras each use a fixed, non-zoom lens (approximately equivalent to a traditional 35mm camera lens). This is a good all-purpose lens, but sometimes you’ll want to capture close-ups and wider shots. Luckily there are some great, affordable accessories to help.

The Olloclip is an iPhone-only accessory that offers wide-angle, macro and fisheye lenses in a tiny package that clips straight on to your iPhone’s camera. Olloclip also recently released a new telephoto lens edition which offers 2x zoom of your iPhone or iPod Touch.

One of the craziest accessories we’ve come across, the iPhone SLR mount does exactly what it says on the tin: Shoots video or stills on your iPhone through your Canon or Nikon SLR lenses.

Ideal for: Individuals or art and photography departments who have a range of Canon or Nikon SLR lenses in their toolkit.

It’s worth noting that unlike shooting still photographs, the iPhone doesn’t use it's entire lens when capturing video. This means that the distortion that is visible at the edge of the frame when taking still photos using a wide-angle or fisheye lens is mostly cropped out.

Are you using any of these - or other - accessories to help you create great educational videos? Drop us a line at support@mediacore.com and tell us about what you’re up to - we’d love to hear from you!

All of these accessories work well with any camera app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Download our free iOS Capture app which makes it even easier to shoot and publish content straight to your MediaCore library.

Written By Aidan Hornsby

Aidan is a designer and filmmaker. He likes tea, technology and travelling, and is passionate about how video can transform teaching and learning.